Over The Hill (And Faraway)
by gothamoriginal
Summary: Set post 'The Last Laugh' so SPOILER ALERT Jerome's not dead. Jerome's out of Gotham. Alone and without any status, he meets Adeline. (I have already posted this on tumblr under the same username)
1. Chapter 1

**Adeline**

He'd walked in looking like death. Literally. Adeline had been packing away the brushes and bottles that constituted her kit. The webbing of her fingers were cut with glitter; every time she moved her hands they sparkled. She wasn't sure if she abhorred it or if it comforted her because it happened every damn time. It was familiar.

'Looking for work?'

He'd eyed her hotly before swinging into the bar stool beside her.

'Adeline. It's _me_. Brady.'

It had been months since she'd seen him here. Since his first and last visit. Since their brief first encounter.

' _Brady_. Too long.'

'Far too long ' he said. He hadn't held out a hand for her to shake; hadn't nodded genially. He'd simply slung an arm around her neck and pulled her in to intimate the situation. The reaction had been a gut instinct; one from years of working in dives like this. A side of the hand to the neck. A violently quick motion that had sent him sprawling.

'My neck. My neck…'

She saw the crease at his neck oozing thick blood, magenta under the hot fame of the club's spotlights.

'Je-sus…'

Her hand had been offered but he ignored it. Pulled himself up on to his knees and from then on lurched to his feet. Still clutching at his throat, fingers clawing against it.

'I must be stronger than I think.'

He breathed deep and ragged, form half-hunched.

'Are you all right, Brady? I'm sorry.'

The sight of him staggering in had been the start of it. Had stayed with her enough for her to not turf him out. But it was the ease with which he fell that sealed it. She'd let him stay long enough to recover himself. She'd pour him a drink. Spiral wouldn't mind; he'd trusted her with the keys (although it suited him, negated the eleven am start he could barely handle) and therefore patently trusted her with the place in general.

'What's this?'

He wrinkled his nose in distaste. Allowed his lips to hover at the rim.

'Jack and coke. Extortionate so appreciate it's lack of price tag.'

'Down the hatch,' Brady said, lifting it resolutely. It's taste made him wince. Made his cheeks puff and redden.

'Not a drinker, huh?'

He looked like a doll of a boy. Porcelain skin that thrummed under the lights. Auburn hair split by a fissure of pale flesh that ran central to his head. Lithe frame.

'I won't pour ya'another. It's just occurred to me you're probably not even legal, honey.'

'I am.' Said with a childish indignance that near enough proved her point in her mind. She swept her body onto the stool beside him and laid her palms flat against the counter top. Let her fingers drum softly.

' **So, you're not here for the booze. What is it?'**


	2. Chapter 2

**Jerome**

The smell of greasepaint was overly familiar to Jerome. It snuck down his nostrils and coated his tongue. Looming over him, their insidious smiles painted on, the clowns at the carny always stunk of his stuff. His mother would come home as the inky sky was finding it's colour and she would reek of it.

'Hold still, Brady.'

Brady was a name that had been on the tip of his tongue for years and years. A peer at the carnival; a boy of about the same age. Talented gymnast. Body able to stretch and loop into various shapes. Wonder what happened to him?

'I am.'

The wound at his throat was still overly tender; he'd bleached it out with some make-up he'd sought from a pharmacy that ran on the outskirts of Gotham. Plundered the bottle to cover and shape his neck beyond the flesh wound that had still been sticky with congealed blood. It had lasted long enough for him to be able to pull a baseball cap low on his forehead and become inconsequential in appearance.

'You wanna look realistic? Different? Then hold. Still.'

He looked up at Adeline as she loomed over him, triangle shaped hunk of sponge pinched between her fingers. At first, she'd baulked at his request. He' offered her some of the bucks he'd had left. She hadn't snapped them up. But at that point, he needed her more than she did him. Needed her to cleanse his appearance of any familiarity the mirror might hold.

'You're a hard one to please, Addy.'

So he'd worked on her.

'My name is Adeline.' All prim and proper. He loved that. It caused a laugh to seize his body. Curling into himself. Building pressure against the weakness of his neck. His hand reached up to cup it.

'What's so funny? That's my name.'

'A real lady, huh?'

'Just hold still, asshole. Where ya runnin' to?'

Jerome pressed his lips together and made a zipping motion. He had no idea yet. She shrugged, at ease with his lack of answer.

Ah, if only she knew. If only she knew that she'd be coming with him too.


End file.
